


Mother's Soup

by Areeta9



Series: Violet: Master of Chaldea [9]
Category: Fate/Grand Order, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms
Genre: Bonding, Cooking, Food, Homesickness, Hugs, Original Character(s), Soup, master - Freeform, servant bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:15:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24392668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Areeta9/pseuds/Areeta9
Summary: Chaldea's master has been making a bunch of rayshifts to the Oceanos singularity and nobody is quite sure why, but every time she comes back with strange ingredients that they can't grow in Chaldea. Emiya discovers her stash of ingredients and resolves to help her cook them into a memory of home.
Series: Violet: Master of Chaldea [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1589119
Comments: 6
Kudos: 12





	Mother's Soup

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place a bit of time after the fourth singularity, before many of the servants from the Inventory chapters arrived.

Emiya wiped his hands on a kitchen cloth with a sigh. They’d made it through the lunch rush. The lunchroom, crowded with servants and staff members only a few minutes ago was now almost empty. Those who were left had already been fed and were socializing amongst themselves. Emiya leaned against the serving counter and gazed out into the space.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

Emiya looked at the redhead carrying a stack of dirty plates beside him. “Thank you too Boudica. Do you need help with those?”

Boudica shook her head.“Nope. Why don’t you go and take a break for a couple of hours? You’ve been in the kitchen since early this morning. The lunchtime washers will be here soon and Touta’s taking the lead for tonight's dinner.”

“Who’s turn is it to wash?” he asked.

“Caligula, Phantom, Angra, and Spartacus,” Boudica replied, setting the plates down next to a sink.

Emiya raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay?”

Boudica waved him off with a smile. “Oh please! Keeping them in line is easy!”

“And if they don’t show up?”

Boudica’s expression darkened, though her smile stayed the same. “Then I’ll find them and drag them here myself...” The darkness dissipated from her face. “Everyone has to do their part after all!” she said lightly.

“Heh, I’ll take your suggestion then. See you later.” 

Emiya left the cafeteria and entered the hallway. He lifted his well-muscled arms above his head and stretched.

He was free for the next couple of hours. What should he do? He could train for a bit in the simulator. It’s always good to keep one’s skills sharp after all. He could invite Arturia to join him…

Emiya looked at the clock.

_ ‘Master should be back from ember farming by now. I should go check on her.’ _ he thought.

Emiya headed towards the control room. Violet probably hadn’t gone back to her room yet. After ember farming, she would usually put the embers in storage and write a report. This was before getting held up either by a servant or a staff member asking her to do something. Then she’d get caught up in resolving that before having to do more work of her own. Emiya knew this all very well, he accompanied her on farming missions frequently. 

_ ‘If she looks tired, I’m making her rest whether she likes it or not. I don’t care what anybody has to say about it’ _

Emiya had decided that his master was someone that he couldn’t leave alone. He wasn’t super close to her or anything. No, even now amongst her servants and coworkers, after four singularities, many including himself were just now getting to know her. However, he had made this decision way back before Orleans as he watched the girl clean up the wreckage of Chaldea and solemnly take up the mantle of the final Master of humanity, as heavy as the burden was. But it was now, after having seen her buckle under the weight of her responsibility that he resolved to be more active in ensuring her wellbeing.

“You found an island that grows scotch bonnet peppers? That’s great! Um, I’m sorry but can I ask you to also find places with pimento, thyme, and cassava? The agriculture sector doesn’t grow cassava and I can’t find the pimento and thyme in storage.”

When Emiya entered the control room, Violet was speaking to a staff member seated in front of their computer.

“Sure thing, but you know what you need to do for me in return, little girl?” said the older man suggestively in a thick Haitian accent.

Violet pierced her lips. “Er, yes…”

“Master!” Emiya called out, approaching the two.

The two turned toward him. Emiya stopped next to his master before throwing an arm around her shoulder. He felt her tense at his touch, but that didn’t matter right now.

He pasted a fake smile on his face. “Master! Good work today! Were the pickings and good?” he asked, grinning down at her.

“Yes, they were fine…” she replied, looking between his face and hand in confusion.

“That’s great!” Emiya turned his eyes to the staff member in front of him. “What were you guys talking about?”

Though he smiled, Emiya’s eyes bore down into the older staff member. He was a mage. But any of the remaining staff members were mages, his previous masters were mages, that didn’t necessarily give him ground to distrust him. They played crucial roles in their shared goal of restoring humanity. However, Violet was still young and inexperienced in the world of magic. Even a weak curse could bring her immeasurable suffering. Many of the more elitist staff members hadn’t taken well to her being the only available master. He wouldn’t put it past some of them to try to take advantage of her.

The man glanced at Violet. The girl looked small next to her broad-shouldered servant. He met Emiya’s eyes. He sensed the thinly veiled aggression from the servant but he kept his indignance down. After many months working with the heroic spirit, he knew better now. Emiya was a part of the kitchen staff. If he wanted to continue eating good food, he was obligated to at least answer. “Nothing important. We were discussing locations to find materials.”

Violet nodded in agreement.

“I see. Well please excuse me, I require Master’s help with something.” He nodded his head towards the door and began to walk out. Violet stood for a moment, confused at her servant’s behavior before nodding to her older coworker and following him out.

Emiya slowed his long stride so that his plump master could keep up with him. In a moment, she was walking by his side.

“What were you guys talking about?” he asked.

Violet thought for a moment before answering. “Materials like he said. I’m trying to make something.”

Emiya glanced at her. The way she had responded and the way she was carrying herself made the statement feel final. It felt like the truth, but also evasive. He turned his gaze back forward and let out a light sigh. Even after what had happened, Violet was still a very private person. She probably felt that he was prying.

“Master, I’m bound to you. I just hope you may rely on me,” he said evenly, before picking up his pace.

“Wait, didn’t you need me for something?” she called out behind him.

“It’s fine!” he called over his shoulder before turning around a corner.

………………..

“I know humanity’s been incinerated and all, but you know Rayshifting is expensive right?”

Dr. Romani stood in a room with a clipboard in his hand. Before him was Da Vinci, a group of staff members, and all the caster servants that Chaldea had summoned so far.

“Are you guys making something? None of the rayshift reports show that the materials were for ascension or skill growth. Have you guys been asking Violet to get magic materials for you?”

“Don’t look at me, none of my current projects require outside materials,” said Da Vinci.

The staff members shook their heads. Many of them were too busy with Chaldea’s upkeep to work on their own side projects. The staff member Violet had been speaking to kept quiet.

“Casters?” Romani asked.

Medea spoke up. Though she wasn’t the first caster to arrive in Chaldea, she was the most skilled in her class and became a sort of leader by default. “Nobody has requested anything out of the usual from us. Our active projects are already well supplied by Chaldea’s resources.”

“And Violet’s lessons?”

“She’s learning healing spells right now.”

Romani tossed the clipboard on the table. “Then what the heck are these rayshifts for?!”

………………..

“Peppers?” 

Emiya picked up a glass jar filled with red, orange, and yellow peppers floating in an orange tinged liquid off the shelf. He was in Chaldea’s main pantry. 

He unscrewed the lid of the jar and waved his hand over it to get its scent.

_ ‘Vinegar…’  _ he thought.

He screwed back on the container and once more looked at the peppers, he didn’t recognize what type they were and the jar was unlabeled. He put the peppers back on the shelf. As he was doing so, he noticed the many other things that were sitting on it: a basket filled with potatoes and some other, long root vegetable, a plastic bag filled with dried allspice, thyme, and salt.

He picked up the long, brown root vegetable and examined it. He wasn’t familiar with it either. The vegetable wasn’t grown in Chaldea. He looked at the mixture of items gathered together. The way they were placed separately from everything else, this was intentional. It was somebody’s stash.

Emiya was curious. While he  _ was _ head chef of Chaldea’s kitchen, there were many other servants and staff members who knew how to cook or cooked as a hobby. There were also three other smaller, spare kitchens in Chaldean. Who had gathered these things together? What were they making?

“Ah, Emiya!”

Emiya turned around. At the door stood Violet with a green pumpkin and a bunch of carrots from the agricultural sector in her arms.

“Master.”

“I didn’t know you were in here.”

“Just getting some flour,” he said, squatting to pick up the sack of flour he had initially come for. “What are you doing here? I hope you’re not trying to get into the frosting again.”

Violet blushed. “That happened only once! I’m just here to store some stuff,”she said, walking over to where he was crouched and placing the vegetables on the shelf.

“Those stay longer in a fridge,” he commented, noticing that she placed the vegetables in the same basket as the root vegetables.

“They won’t be there for long,” she replied.

“So that stash is yours? What are they for?” Emiya was interested. This was the first time he’d his master show any interest in culinary pursuits.

“Mm...I want to make something,” she said. She looked at him. He was frowning at her answer. She backpedaled. “Sorry, but I don’t really want to tell right now. If it turns out well though…” Violet avoided his gaze by rearranging her vegetables, “there should be enough to share.”

……………………….

“There’s a leyline you can set up the transportation circle to your left. The field you're looking for should be right behind the line of trees,” said a staff member over the communicator.

“Ah, the sparkling sea truly is beautiful. Right Benkei?” asked Ushiwakamaru as she gazed upon the sparkling blue.

“Indeed, Yoshitsune-dono,” replied Benkei.

“Senpai, what are we here for this time?” asked Mash, wielding her shield in her demiservant armor. “And how come the Doctor’s not supervising us?”

Violet and Mash had once again rayshifted into the 3rd Singularity, Oceanos. Along with them was Ushiwakamaru and Benkei

“Doc’s sleeping, he’s been up for 3 days straight. Da Vinci’s working on an invention, she knows we’ve rayshifted though, I requested this one three days ago,” Violet replied over her shoulder. She was already trotting towards the treeline.

“Wait up ,Senpai! There could be crabs around here!” exclaimed Mash before running after.

“Be careful Master-dono!” called out Benkei as he and Ushiwakamaru followed after the two girls.

“There they are!” Violet exclaimed, hopping over a small hill to stand before what looked like a dense forest of thick segmented reeds standing a foot or so above her height.

“Bamboo?” Mash asked, bewildered.

“Nope! Could be related though. It’s sugarcane!” Violet replied with a smile.

“First the peppers, then the cassava, now sugarcane: What are you making, Senpai?”

“I’ll tell you after I’m done making it,” Violet replied, as she crouched down near the edge of the field to examine the sugarcanes’ stems.

Mash frowned. She didn’t like her senpai doing stuff without her.

Violet patted the utility belt she brought with her to the rayshift. The sight of it wasn’t unusual to Mash, her senpai had requested it after their adventure in Orleans. She hated going into the singularities barehanded. Usually her the belt had vials of her blood(for convenient mana transfers), pages from healing tomes(provided by the casters), first aid kit, Serenity’s bathwater (to throw at enemies in a pinch), and whatever light tools she could get away with in each time period. However, what she pulled from behind her back caught Mash by surprise.

“Where did you get that machete?!”

“I found it in storage. Figured it would be useful to cut these down,” Violet replied as she began to hack at the stalk of a sugarcane. She was having a hard time hitting the same spot each time, but she was determined. If her ancestors had done it, she could do it too.

“My lord, allow us to assist you,” said Ushiwakamaru, drawing her blade. Benkei followed suit.

Violet readied one more strike and hacked through the sugarcane’s stiff stem. She looked at the long grass in her hand and smiled in pride. Satisfied, she stepped away from the field. “Go ahead. But don’t cut down all of it,” she said. Her ancestors probably wouldn’t like seeing her slave away in the cane fields when she had the means to have someone else do it.

With swift, effortless strikes from Benkei and Ushi dozens of stalks fell to the ground. As soon as they were down, Violet eagerly began binding them into bundles they could carry. Ushi and Benkei insisted on carrying the bulk of them, but Violet snagged one for herself to carry. It was cumbersome, but Violet did her best to hide her discomfort and carried it all the way to the transport circle.

Mash carried her own bundles. She really wanted to know what senpai was up to.

………………..

_ ‘The stash is gone,’ _ thought Emiya.

The shelf on the pantry where his master had stowed her stuff was empty now. The ingredients were there when he had come in twenty minutes ago, so she must have collected them some time in between then.

Emiya exited the pantry. As one of Chaldea’s first servants he had made a mental map of the facility. There were three other kitchens besides the cafeteria’s his master could possibly be using. The first was attached to the lounge. However, it wasn’t very private, and he doubted his master would want other servants bothering her since she didn’t want to tell him what she was making. Another was near the agricultural sector. However, that one was rather far from the cafeteria and walking around with that many ingredients would draw attention. That left one more kitchen, one that was on an upper floor, away from the residents’ main activity.

Emiya entered the elevator and went up a couple of floors. When he exited the elevator, the hall was empty. He made his way to the kitchen. He slowed his footsteps as he approached the kitchen’s door. He looked through the window.

Standing in the kitchen was Violet contemplating the meat, vegetables, and spices on the counter before her. Behind her on the stove was a large pot of water put to boil.

Emiya watched her for a while. She picked up a knife in one hand and a green pumpkin in the other. She attempted to stab the knife into the pumpkin. Emiya noted that she was using the wrong kind of knife.

He stepped back from the door and sighed. After months of being in Chaldea, not once had he seen his master actually cook. Of course, one could assume this was because the kitchen staff prepared the bulk of Chaldea’s meals, however, that could also mask his master’s lack of skill in the kitchen.

He couldn’t watch this. He knew he was meddling but if he left her alone, she was going to hurt herself.

Emiya stepped into the kitchen. “Master what are you doing?”

Violet’s body jolted a bit before she turned to look at her surprise visitor. “Emiya, what are you doing here?”

“Watching you use the wrong knife to cut a pumpkin,” he replied, taking the knife out of her hand. “What are you making?”

“I-I told you I’d show you when I’m done,” she stuttered.

“What are you making?” he firmly repeated.

Violet lowered her eyes. She felt like a child caught doing something bad. “Soup. A special soup.”

“Do you know how to make it?” he asked, examining the block of knives before selecting one that could cut open the pumpkin. He already knew the answer.

“No,” Violet reluctantly replied. “I’ve never made soup before.”

Since she had been so secretive about it, he’d decided to get the whole truth out of her. “Then why didn’t you ask for help?”

“I wanted the effort to be mine alone.” Violet felt foolish saying this outloud. “It’s a soup my mom made back home.”

Ah, there it was. Violet didn’t talk a lot about her family. To be more specific, she didn’t go into detail about them. She gave names, ages, and careers but nothing that really told about her relationship with them, leaving her servants to speculate.

“Well, from the looks of what you have here, it’s not a kind of soup I’m familiar with. Do you have a recipe on you?”

Violet shook her head.

“Then we’ll have to do this through trial and error. I hope you collected a lot of ingredients,” Emiya said as he took an apron from the kitchen’s closet and tossed another to his master. “Put that on. Your Chaldea uniform would be a pain to get food stains out of.”

“You’re going to help me whether I like it or not aren’t you?” 

“Yes, because you are absolutely hopeless. And since you’re so concerned about the effort being yours, it can be yours after I teach you how to actually prepare food. Now, what can you remember about how your mom makes the soup?”

“She blended pumpkin as the soup’s base,” she said, holding up the pumpkin. “I think she boiled the beef before adding the pumpkin. She made dumplings and added that in. I also remember her cutting up escallion and putting it in there somewhere. Pimento too”

“Escallion?”

“A green onion? Leek? My mom calls them escallion.”

Emiya looked at her before pointing to the spice she had gestured towards. “Allspice”

“My mom calls it pimento.”

“Anything else I should know?” Emiya picked up the brown root vegetable. “What is this?”

“Cassava. We need to peel and cut it into bite size pieces”

“Okay, lets go to work.”

………………..

“It’s not right.” Violet said, as she took a spoonful from her small bowl of soup.

Emiya tasted it. It was good, but he wasn’t the one who had tasted Violet’s mother’s cooking. If it wasn’t the taste she was looking for then the only thing to do was try again.

Emiya covered and picked up the soup pot. “Is it fine if I use this for dinner?” He hated wasting food.

“Yeah,” she replied, stirring her soup in disappointment.

“You should probably head back to the main area, Mash is probably looking for you by now.”

“Yeah,” Violet said, getting up from her seat.

“One sec, what’s for?”

Violet turned around. Emiya’s eyes were on the stick of sugarcane leaned against the wall.

“Oh!” Violet perked up. “It’s sugarcane!” She grabbed a knife and unfolded a newspaper she had brought with her. She cut a nudge into the top of the cane and unsteadily began to peel a strip of its hard skin. “My dad used to peel it up and share it for the four of us. You’re supposed to chew a piece for its juice and then- Ah!”

Emiya put down the soup and grabbed a kitchen towel. As his master cradled her injured hand, he gently wrapped the towel around it and applied pressure.

“Are you okay?” he asked

.

“Er, yeah,” she responded, a bit embarrassed. “I’ve never actually cut it myself.”

He sighed and went to wash off the knife she had cut herself with. He opened a cabinet and came back with a first aid kit. “You’ll get better with practice. For now, fix up yourself. If you want the sugarcane so badly, I’ll peel it for you myself.”

“Thank you.”

………………..

Emiya and Violet stood in the kitchen in silence. The two were shoulder to shoulder stirring the two large soup pots Violet picked up the salt, poured some in the spoon before dropping it back into the soup and stirring.

Emiya glanced at her. Though focused on the task at hand, her body was relaxed, a pleasant change from the tension she often held within her. He figured this was as good a time as any to try to talk to her.

“Master, are you homesick?”

“Hm?” Violet stopped stirring and looked up at him. “Am I homesick?”

“Yes.”

“Yes, she responded sadly before beginning to stir again. “This is the longest I’ve ever been away from home. Even when I left for college I was only gone for a little over a month before I came home for the weekend.”

“You went to school nearby then?”

“Yeah, my hometown was a thirty minute drive from the major city where I went to school. I could have gone home every weekend if I wanted to.” Violet checked the consistency of the soup before she continued stirring. “If I had known I would come to Chaldea, I would have come home more often,” she murmured to herself.

“I take it you got along with your family?”

“Yeah. I wouldn’t say I was, am, particularly best friends with my mom, dad, or sister, but I wouldn’t trade them for a different family. I could have been born into a worse family, so it's fortunate that I was born to parents that did their best for me...How about you Emiya? What’s your family like since you’re asking?”

Emiya knit his eyebrows and pierced his lips. 

  
Violet watched him. “Unless you don’t want to talk about it. That’s fine.”

“No, no. I should have figured you’d ask when I started to pry. My family situation wasn’t bad if that’s what you’re thinking. I’m not a big fan of going into detail but…” He sighed. “There was an old man that took me in when I was a kid and a woman who was like a big sister to me. My old man was gone a lot but...When he was around, things were good.”

“Huh…” 

The two fell silent again. The quiet lasted for a few moments before Violet turned to him once again.

“The Spirit Origin List said that you were from Japan. I’m sorry if this sounds rude ,but if you’re Japanese, how come your skin’s so tan?”

Violet held up her hand near his face. “It’s actually not too far off from  _ my _ skintone,” she added. “Is your family from a different country?”

“No, and that’s a long story,” he responded.

“So it’s not  _ naturally _ like that? Were you paler at some point?”

Emiya forgot how inquisitive his master could be when somebody got her going.

“What about your family? I’m no expert about Americans but I don’t think all of these ingredients are common in Western cooking,” he said, changing the subject as he spooned a scotch bonnet out of the soup.

“I was born in America but both of my parents are from Jamaica. I grew up in an area where there were a lot of people from the Caribbean. We got stuff like that from the market all the time. Honestly, I kinda missed the food I got from home. You and the kitchen staff serve a wide variety of food, but none of it’s the same. The food’s good but…” She turned to Emiya with a conspiratory smile, “to tell you the truth, I contemplated going out and hunting a billy just so I could have curry goat again!” 

“Heh, well if you ever do try to prepare one, you know where to find me. I’d rather you ask for help and have me guide you through it than you try it yourself with your terrible knife skills.”

“Hey!” she responded in mock offense. She elbowed him with an amused smile. Emiya couldn’t help but smirk in return.

Emiya turned off the stove and Violet served two bowls of the soup. The two sat at the kitchen table to eat.

Violet ate a few spoonfuls before shaking her head. “Still not quite right.”

Violet once more looked at her bowl in disappointment. Emiya ate from his own bowl, once again it tasted fine to him. They’d have to try again to get whatever she was looking for.

“It was a bit too watery this time. I think we need to add more flour,” she said, her arms crossed and her brow furrowed in thought. “Maybe we should bake the meat before boiling it? No, I don’t recall my mom doing that. Are the dumplings made with the right kind of flour? Maybe we should add more thyme or pimento?”

“Is it fine if I use this for dinner again?” Emiya asked.

“That’s why we made two large pots this time isn’t it? You can go ahead. I’ll clean up this time.”

Emiya left with the soup once again. Back in the cafeteria’s kitchen, he put the large pots on the burner to keep warm. He then went to the controls for the tv screen that displayed the cafeteria’s daily menu and added the soup to the list, making sure to note that it was first come first serve. At max, the two pots could only serve thirty-five people in comparison to the first batch’s eight. He would’ve made more to serve but the soup wasn’t his own project. Those who had got to try it seemed to like it however.

“More of your mystery soup Emiya-san?”

Emiya turned around. Towards him strode Tawara Touta carrying a tray of food to serve for dinner.

“Yeah, I have more this time.”

“I’m sure the others will be happy about that. A lot of them were quite disappointed that there was so little of it last time.” Touta looked at the pots. “Only two?”

“I’m a bit restricted in how much I can make right now.”

“Really? You could make it in the cafe kitchen like usual. Boudica-san and I could lend you a hand.”

“Can’t. It’s not really my say where it’s made or who is involved in making it.”

“Huh? Why-”

The doors to the cafeteria opened and a crowd of servants and staff began to stream in.

“We better get to work,” Emiya said, putting on his apron and tying it behind his back.

………………..

Violet didn’t notice how fast time had passed while she was making the soup with Emiya the third time. She didn’t even notice it was done until her older servant got up from the table where they were having their conversation and turned off the stove. In their previous trials, her time waiting for the soup to cook between stirrings was occupied by a book and silence, but this time, the time was filled with conversation.

As Emiya ladled out the soup for himself and his master, he continued talking.

“The reason why the Dog and I seem so familiar with each other is because I’ve run into him more times than I’ve ever cared to in the past! Seriously, it’s gotten weird!”

“Are you guys like, soul mates or something?” Violet asked, smothering a laugh.

“Oh,  _ hell _ no. My luck rank may be E rank, but I  _ refuse _ to be connected to him in that way,” Emiya said with a look of disgust.

“What if you guys are soul mates, but in a different kind of way? Like in every incarnation where you two meet you’re destined to fight?”

“Ugh, how annoying, I can’t even catch a break from him outside of the  _ usual _ Holy Grail War,” he replied as he set down the two bowls and took his seat next to her.

“By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask…” Emiya frowned. “If this soup what you were planning, what did Mr. Desamoure have you do in return?” Emiya asked suspiciously. If it was something sketchy, he wasn’t beyond confronting the man for asking such a thing of his master.

“I have to clean his room,” 

Huh, that’s actually a lot tamer than what he thought he would ask of her.

“It doesn’t sound bad, not at all, but I can’t help but feel that it’s some sort of power play, like the fact that I’m cleaning up after him, a grown man, with some sort of prestigious lineage makes me below him,” Violet said, stirring her soup.

“I can see that. Do you need help?” he asked.

“Nah. I should be fine. It’s just cleaning, as long as he doesn’t have any weird crap in there I should be fine.”

Emiya’s eyes narrowed. “Let me know if anything happens,” he said firmly.

“Alright.” Violet took a spoonful of the soup. Emiya did the same.

He savored the flavor. This batch wasn’t just good like the previous batches, this one was great!

The vegetables were perfectly cooked, the beef almost melted in your mouth, and the liquid itself was a pleasure to drink. The mix of textures varied each spoonful and made the soup fun to eat. The soup was a little spicy, but the recipe could easily be adjusted to suit milder tastes. Nutritious and flavorful, he wouldn’t mind serving the soup more often, but that wasn’t up to him…

He opened his eyes and looked over to Violet.

His eyes widened. “Hey, are you alright?” he asked in surprise.

Violet sat hunched in her seat, staring down at the soup bowl before her. Tears were streaming down her face and landing on the table cloth. She blinked and touched her face. Her cheeks flushed red and she got up from her seat with a start. She lifted up her glasses and hastily began to wipe her eyes. “I-I’m sorry Emiya!” she exclaimed. “I didn’t mean for you-”

Before she could finish her sentence, she found herself pressed against his black shirt, his strong arm pulling her towards him. She looked up at him in surprise. He was looking past her.

“This batch came out perfectly, just like your mom’s?” he asked.

Violet looked down and nodded. 

“That’s great. Your mother really knows how to make some good food,” he said quietly.

Violet nodded. Tears were starting to bubble up in her eyes again.

“It’s okay. Cry as much as you need to.”

Violet removed her glasses as the tears once again began to overflow and pressed her face into Emiya’s comforting chest.

Emiya embraced her with one arm and patted the back of her head with the other and the two stood like that.

“There you are Senpa-”

Violet and Emiya looked up to see Mash at the kitchen door. Behind her came Touya and Boudica.

“Wha-What are you two doing?!” she exclaimed, her face flustered. Her senpai had disappeared for hours at a time three days in a row. She finally finds her only to see her in the embrace of a man! “Th-that’s inde-!”

Mash noticed Violet’s tearstained face.

“S-senpai, what’s wrong?” she asked worriedly as she ran over to Violet and pulled her out of Emiya’s arms to face her.

Violet wiped some left over tears from her eyes and put on back her glasses. She gave Mash a reassuring smile. “I’m okay Mash, Emiya and I were just making some soup.”

“So this is where you were making the soup,” said Touta.

“Were you helping Emiya make it, Master?” asked Boudica.

“More like I was helping her,” Emiya replied, putting his hands on his hips.

“Well it smells great! We could smell it down the hall!”

“Senpai! May I try your soup?” Mash asked eagerly, grasping Violet's hand in a silent plea.

Violet smiled obligingly. “Sure, you can all have some. I’m especially proud of this batch.”

Emiya took out three more bowls and Violet served them. The five of them sat at the table and began to eat.

“Oh! This one’s the best yet!” exclaimed Touta.

Mash nodded in agreement.

“It really is!” added Boudica as she eagerly ate another spoonful. “Where did you two learn to make this? Did you come up with it yourselves?”

A wistful smile came on Violet’s face. “No. It’s a soup my mom made back home. It took three tries but we finally got it right.”

“Ah.” Boudica smiled. “It’s absolutely lovely. Is it okay to ask for the recipe?”

“Recipe? Oh right-” Violet got up and rushed to find a pencil and paper. Before returning to the table, already scribbling down notes. “We’ve made the soup so many times, I’ve got to write down the correct recipe before I forget it again! How many scotch bonnets did we put in each pot again, Emiya? For how long?”

Violet scribbled down the recipe as the others finished eating. She held up the paper for the others to see when she was done. “I’m sure my mom wouldn’t mind me sharing the soup with everyone since we’ll be together in Chaldea for awhile. I’ll type it up later so that it’s easier to understand. I’ll have the final product by tomorrow.”

“Thank you for sharing something so important to you with us, Master,” said Boudica.

“Yeah! Man, that was really good! Filling too!” said Touta, patting his stomach.

“It’s no problem,” replied Violet as she collected the bowls and began to wash up.

“I wish you had asked me to help you, Senpai,” said Mash.

“Honestly, I wasn’t even going to get help from Emiya initially. But he found out before I could really get myself going.”

“And it’s a good thing I did. If I hadn’t, you’d have cut your hand off by now.”

Violet made a face, but couldn’t deny his statement.

“Anyway, I’ve already saved some for myself. The rest can be used for dinner like last time.”

Violet finished the dishes and Touta and Boudica picked up the soup pots and headed to the elevator to take them to the cafeteria. Mash moved to follow behind them.

“Are you coming, Senpai?” she asked before leaving.

“Gimme a sec. I’ll be right out, Mash.”

“Okay.” Mash left the kitchen.

Violet turned to Emiya. “Emiya, thanks for helping me make the soup and-” She blushed. “For lending me your chest. I didn’t realize just how much I missed home.”

“Don’t worry about it. It was a pleasure. If you ever need help again, don’t be afraid to ask.”

“Thanks,” she said, before giving him a hug. Emiya hugged her back.

“Emiya? Senpai?”

“Coming!” they both called out before leaving the kitchen.


End file.
